Tabloid Tales of the Past

May 3, 2002

More than 800 people attended the opening of the Rome Area Chamber of Commerce’s 27th annual expo Friday at Hangar Road Expo Building 220 in the Griffiss Business and Technology Park, surpassing 2001 Expo Friday opening, chamber officials said.

Shortcomings in an existing policy for naming school buildings after someone have prompted a Board of Education committee to work on a revised policy.

May 3, 1992

MARCY — A tour boat chugged through Lock 20 this morning, the Erie Canal’s opening day, to kick off Tourism Week and bring attention to Leatherstocking Country’s 20 new informational kiosks along the canal.

May 3, 1982

Chastising Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.’s latest rate hike request as "outlandish" and "unconscionable," Mayor Carl J. Eilenberg said today he would do everything he could to prevent its approvable.The mayor said the $250 million, 10 percent, rate hike requests is "outrageous."

May 3, 1972

Pat Gross has been installed as governor of Rome Lodge of Moose, heading a slate seated Sunday in ceremonies at the lodge.

May 3, 1962

The two-story wooden building at 300 W. Dominick St., housing the Selrite Furniture Store, has been purchased by Joseph A. and Kathryn Torio from the Lucy Rutherford estate. The Torios have operated a store there for 32 years.

May 3, 1952

Revere Copper and Brass Inc. reports net income of $1,728,986 for the first three months of this year, compared to $1,791,101 for the comparable period of 1951.

Today is Thursday, May 3, the 124th day of 2012. There are 242 days left in the year.

Today in History

On May 3, 1937, Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, "Gone With the Wind."

On this date:

In 1791, Poland adopted a national constitution.

In 1802, Washington, D.C., was incorporated as a city.

In 1911, Wisconsin Gov. Francis E. McGovern signed the first U.S. workers’ compensation law to withstand constitutional review.

In 1916, Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.

In 1933, Nellie T. Ross became the first female director of the U.S. Mint.

In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks or members of other racial groups were legally unenforceable.

In 1952, the Kentucky Derby was televised nationally for the first time on CBS; the winner was Hill Gail.

In 1960, the Harvey Schmidt-Tom Jones musical "The Fantasticks" began a nearly 42-year run at New York’s Sullivan Street Playhouse.

In 1986, in NASA’s first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff, forcing safety officers to destroy it by remote control.

"Each day, and the living of it, has to be a conscious creation in which discipline and order are relieved with some play and pure foolishness." - May Sarton, American poet (born this date in 1912, died in 1995).